, they could choose to remove it later. lou: i have been told that it is an association with antisocial behavior and suicide. that too broad and general? >> it was certainly popular amongst inmates, but i haven't seen that. but it's interesting that society is interested in taking risk-taking behavior. i live in the wild side, don't put me in a box. the women are inclined to regret the decision for having a tattoo than men are. whatever that says. but people are going to make a judgment in a good or bad way. lou: how do you keep your kid from doing a? >> you share your value system. i can ask my daughter. but she wanted not to get

attached here. lou: that's it for us tonight, good night from new york. spiezio president obama is now nominating jack lew to replace timothy geithner. welcome, everybody. let's just say this president loved the movie and it ended there. this president's cabinet is a far cry from that president's cabinet. again confirming it is more loaded with inside the box than outside the box.

forget john kerry and chuck hagel. think of a time when a president surrounded himself with meaningful people. i'm not saying that jack lew doesn't deserve to be the secretary. but he's just not a lincolnesque choice. a president who dared to break the mold. >> is asking the world that they are up to the task? let's ask john layfield and chris stirewalt and myra weinstein. it did hearken back to a time when lincoln was very comfortable with the cabinet.

what happened to those days? >> one of the things that has happened is we don't do much with cabinets anymore. they are there for photo ops. outside, there are a couple of key spots in defense justice. the president isn't engaged and he was back and forth for pictures. the other part is that for the president we have gotten to know him a lot better he is not here to do a deal with republicans. we have nodeals come or not

changing entitlements, and taxes are still on the table. neil: it's a safe choice for the president. he continues the philosophy of the president. maybe they want someone with a little bit more direct business experience, but it's not going to happen. >> no, it won't happen. you are dealing with different dates in conflict. the same thing that president lincoln dead. you have to go from the top down, you cannot go from the bottom up. you can't get a foot soldier. you have to deal with the other leadership. clinton was able to deal with republicans and reagan was able to deal with democrats. president obama has not been able to deal with anybody outside of his own party, and that is what we are continuing to see what all of us. that is the only way you're going to bring these guys in common than we are not seeing that at all.

neil: myra, you kind of like the movie, is that right? >> it was the best movie that i saw all year. "lincoln" was a little dark, but it was so good. [talking over each other] [talking over each other] >> obviously, it was a little slow. we are talking about the best director and actor. tommy lee jones was awesome. excellent writing. neil: so what do you think? >> is a great movie, american history, he's a true american hero. it is the highest pedigree imaginable in hollywood with a great story. it's a very gripping movie. this is a movie that people really pay a lot of money to see. neil: it's hard to believe that daniel day-lewis is british.

>> yes, i agree. neil: this is a time and period that sometimes gets over glorified. but it is a time when we had leaders, particularly that one of that time who defied conventional wisdom and there were others who thought they were better suited for his job. ridiculous would it kill us to go back to more of that? where are we just now unable to do that? >> the disintegrating union had to bring together the disparate party that was only unified in opposition to the kansas and nebraska act. the expansion of slavery. he had a party out of nothing.

there was a willingness on kennedy's part to experiment. >> here is where that i say that jack lew is a rather unusual choice for treasury secretary. even robert mcnamara from general motors. >> he spent some time and made a lot of money at citigroup. but to depict the treasury secretary, generally speaking, it is a job that converts tim

geithner will know what his politics were. wall street was comfortable with him. neil: layoffs were announced today with american express. >> well, look, it's the greatest thing the world that taxes will go up on 99% of the people. and spending will go unchecked. it's that our government. it's bad for our country long-term. that is exactly what we see, and you are seeing something similar act in 1824 when we had the jacksonians that they block

whatever they were going to do. neil: there is something that touched her greatness. a greatness of the movie. hollywood sees this opportunity to do more of this type of stuff. is that true? >> more of what? >> one historical movies. neil: ben affleck was nominated

for a movie he was an. >> in. >> yes, i think he has a career in movies. but not in politics. i think he is going to do well and do his next project. also don't forget that the director was snubbed for "zero dark thirty." neil: is that right? so hollywood could be reversing that. >> maybe they are looking at the way things used to be in a romantic sense. [laughter] neil: i would like to thank all of you for this great discussion of who we are and what we are. all on basic cable. thank you. coming up next, instead of cutting spending, a penny for your thoughts. wal-mart is trying to create jobs in a city with very high

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neil: 21 people want the president to bypass congress and use the 14th amendment. you might be familiar with that one. it includes a very important provision about the importance of our debt. congressman james clyburn is one of those democrats. welcome to you. >> thank you so much for having me. neil: why do you want to give this presidenis power? wonder you you never wanted to grant president bush? >> well, i have always voted to raise the debt ceiling. in congress, those of us in the

congress, granted him his wish. we never tried to deny him the ability to pay our bills. i want to do it now because this congress, at least this house of representatives would like to see is the default on our obligations. that is why i think the president ought to do it himself. if congress refuses to do so. neil: i don't know about you, you are in this camp, many of your colleagues when president bush was around, they were on the brink a number of times arguing about what he was doing. bringing us ultimately to default. isn't the issue what brings us to this point time and again? fifty some odd time since world war ii? if the underlying spending. it seems like you guys are going through hoops to avoid the underlying problem. and that problem is spending. >> spending may be a problem. but what do we spend the money on? we spend this money to fund two

wars that we never paid for. we have never knock on the war and made sacrifices tax wise or otherwise to pay for it the one what about the $5 trillion that we spend since that time? you know, i think you are very right. and let's not go back in time and say how allies. let's address it how it is now. [talking over each other] [talking over each other] neil: no commie or not, we just had tax hikes. >> where is the control? >> the control is always there. >> you think the deficit is the

problem. there are five big items that cause the problems that we have. a big prescription drug plan. neil: the problem that we have now have is based on five things? i'm going to ask you whether it is from george bush or zachary taylor. can we do something about the spending reality. rather than come up with the 14th amendment, getting it under control, and we won't have to do this silly stuff, right? >> well, certainly, i think spending is being brought under control. neil: , on, congressman. >> we are now collecting 50%

revenue of gdp. the problem that we have is that our revenue collections is way down. >> i'm talking about the spending. you have to compare spending to revenue. neil: you want to get to those levels of clinton? >> yes, i would love everything to get to those levels of clinton. bush had 22 million new jobs. neil: that was $10 trillion in debt ago. >> when bill clinton left office, we had $288 billion in surplus. yes, that's what i want to get back to you. job creation and surpluses in the budget. neil: but you're not going to

bring in any spending to curtail out. you are forgetting, conveniently, that president -- very good fiscal points, the leading of the office of the recession is well in place. the nasdaq was cut in half, and then something happened on 9/11. i'm not dumping anything on him or the guy who succeeded him. but let's look at the reality that we gone now. we have massive debt, a lot more money coming out than going income and you haven't volunteered anything that you would cut is far is that money going out. >> we took $716 billion out of medicare. he got elected and he put the $716 billion back into medicare. that is a test that we made when we passed -- neil: no, it just went into the president's health care plan. >> it may have, but it was cut out of medicare --

neil: taking it out of one and putting in another is created but it doesn't save anything. >> that's how you create a job. we had big job growth in the medicare business. and -- uh, -- in the emergency rooms -- uh, that's what i call my spending, smart investing, and smart cards. neil: welcome welcoming the new year. hope springs eternal. thank you for coming, congressman. >> thank you for having me. neil: coming up next, a union battle against

neil: a wal-mart opening in newark, new jersey. unions are fighting against that, although it's bringing a lot of jobs to a city that needs them sorely. the employment rate is about 15%. >> wal-mart brings a short-term solution. what they do is they put mom-and-pop businesses, they give workers low wages, they don't provide good insurance plans, they sue their employees back for the wages for settlements after they have been injured on the job. there is no bribery possibly going on.

documents came out today about wal-mart. people want jobs in the short-term, but what about the community. what about the long-term growth? my grandmother is buried in newark, new jersey. and she lived in elizabeth, new jersey, her entire life. neil: i used to live there myself. lovely people, but not exactly a beacon for employers. here is the big one coming in. promising hundreds of jobs, it seems like a great reason. but then the unions say no. but the people need jobs that let me give you some numbers. this area is 150,000 square feet. wal-mart is going to take 100,000 of that. they are also looking for a tax credit from the state of new jersey.

neil: i don't care to take a 500,000 square feet. they are going to give good jobs. >> i think it is a monopolization on the community's. neil: but they need a job. >> it's a job, but what about -- we want what you mean, you don't need this job -- it's been a few >> of course everyone needs a job, but what about the long-term solution? neil: they are known for being modern-day slave drivers. have you ever gone to wal-mart? i have never seen anyone shortchange someone. >> of course not. neil: do you think that here is a thriving business community

around newark, new jersey? >> yes, it the symbol is the anheuser-busch business. neil: they could desperately use the whole 9 yards two i agree. i agree that we need jobs. but i still think that we have an opportunity to put in an industry and factories. neil: wal-mart is the only taker. no one else wants to go there. >> they are profitable and they have all the money. neil: you know, anyone can do what wal-mart is promising to do. give people gainful employment. >> gainful employment for a low wage -- no, no, no. neil: anyway just better than no wage. >> do you know what they do?

they actually tell people that they're going to fire them if they find out that they are organizing. neil: oh, this is all about unions to you. now i know. >> no, it's not. neil: you are a despicable human being. >> i know, i've been told this many times. >> i go to church, yoga, the synagogue. [laughter] neil: you are a worker rights attorney and take you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. neil: coming up next, before this video went viral, this one went viral first.

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neil: do you feel like making this guy on the left angry? be careful what you wish for. alan simpson is taking his clothes off. okay, now that i have gotten your attention, alan simpson is here himself. he is on the phone with us.

>> we reach more young people with that thing that if we gone through the country on a bus b1 is very popular with young people in particular. it's like congress ignored it completely. i have to wonder whether we will ever get the backbone. >> i don't think so. it is many school what they did. but they got their wish. they say that the polls show that 75% of the people want to tax the rich and that's fine. but they forget 75% of the people want to cut spending. where is that? they didn't do a lick of that. >> we worked with him when we were doing our work before. neil: all the problems were

cited with spending and abuse. going back to the bush years. that is what worries me. it's almost as if reportedly the president tells john boehner that we don't have a spending problem. well, we can't address the problem and no one acknowledges that there is one. >> that is the saddest thing of all. no one gets specific except for the five democrats and five republicans who signed on, we were very specific what we did. these guys all say that we love the template, we love the proposal and the plan. and they don't want to touch it with a stick because then you have riled up the home mortgage guys. you have riled up the insurance industry's. neil: okay, they say that we

like what you did, why don't we all hold hands and just hold our nose with the other hand and say that we liked it. and that were going to risk everything supporting us in following this. >> that takes a lot of guts. during our tour of the campus, we would run into guys. they would say save us from ourselves, and they were not kidding. they were laughing, it was a jocular effort, but it was absolutely serious. these guys cannot cut it. it's a classic chisholm of people. they have campaign contributions and unless we do something with that, there is another hard core issue. in another three or four terms, some guy will be able to put up

$20 million and no one will say anything. these guys are terrified. >> we have this deal and they produced something that was at best suspicious. will it be the postponement or the sequestration cuts? will be the debt ceiling which might come at the very same moment? >> as they stumble around, there is an evil force that nobody seems to want to understand but the money guys. that is the markets will get tired of all the fun and games and all the funny loose talks. neil: they haven't gotten tired of it yet. >> the real point is that that kind of stuff, it can happen in two years and two months or two

days, and that is when the markets headed. inflation will go up, interest rates will go up, and we won't disappear. but we won't be number one. and then they will say, who did this? and they will look around and find a jerk in their district would not cut a nickel or raise the tax and they said, you led us to this and url. that's your only hope for democracy right now. neil: we are still waiting and hoping. he met cross your fingers. i know you will. >> okay, pal, take care. [laughter] neil: you are the best. alan simpson. we will leave it at that. coming up next, the health care law. workers are feeling jerked around. one worker is here to explain next this is $100,000.

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neil: taco bell could be coming paycheck hell. taco bell is cutting employees hours, making more of the workers avoid paying the higher taxes. thank you for coming. >> thank you for having me. >> what happened you? how long were you working and how long are you working now? >> i was working 35 hours a week -- anywhere from 35 to 40 hours a week. now i am working 20 hours or less. >> were you getting benefits? >> no, none of us were getting benefits. they were only providing benefits to managers and assistant managers vmax so how do they explain why you were being cut?

>> well, they had a store meeting. and they explain explained that the company did not want to provide health care due to the health care initiative. and they would then be cutting everyone's hours down from full-time to part-time, no more than 20 hours a week. >> in their defense, we will read a statement. it does require them to work certain numbers before providing cover to. so whether they do that or not, they were under federal edict to do that unless they can find a way around ow. were they caught up in this administrative battle? >> i think that several people were. i think a lot of people were actually. now people are having to look for part-time jobs. and it's kind of hard to find a second part-time job these days. there's not enough jobs and as

we all know, unemployment is up anyway. it's only going to get worse. >> some are still researching what the affordable care act means for corporations. so it doesn't sound very good. so if we are reading this correctly, they are not going to change their policies? >> they are not going to change their policies. neil: so have you left taco bell? >> no, tomorrow is actually my last day. neil: did they know you were going to be here tay? >> no, they did not. neil: how do you think they will feel about that? >> you know, i really don't

care. neil: you have luck with any other job front? >> yes, i do actually. neil: can you tell us about it or do you prefer not to? >> i can tell you that there is a restaurant that i'm looking at. it's a full-time waitress job. it's about 30 or 35 hours a week. neil: you have any kids? >> yes, i have three children. neil: i hope it works out. thank goodness for folks like you. it is sad that you are caught in the middle of such things. you are just trying to provide a life or your family and food for your kids. i hope it works out.

>> i sure hope so, and i'm sure that it will. god willing, everything works out how it's supposed to. neil: tania davis, the soon-to-be former taco bell employee. a young woman who wants to work who is willing to work so hard. do we want to push people away like her? we want to push them on government assistance? she is obviously willing to work her tail off. neil: okay, things are very bad when this co the capital one cash rewards card gives you 1% cash back on all purchases, plus a 50% annual bonus. and everyone but her likes 50% more cash, but i have an idea. do you want a princess dress? yes. cupcakes? yes.

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neil: when crocodile dundee is schooling uncle sam, that is a crime. australia is one of nine countries ranked ahead of us in economic freedom. denmark and new zealand and even the tiny indian ocean nation is ahead of the united states. the index measures things like regulations in markets and the size of the government. all of that. we came in 10th. now, temp wasn't really bad for miss alabama. there were nine women prettier than her in the miss usa

pageant. i don't know how that happened, but that is not good for america. it's good to see you, bob. happy new year. what do you think? >> when you think about the economic and political realities of the united states, it's probably not a surprise. regulatory environments, economic income, wealth distribution, absence of growth, all of this is just not great news for economic freedom. >> is used to be the place for capital growth. we are increasingly dropping this and it is a common thing. should we be worried? is that the world saying that we have other more promising spots?

>> it is a worry. you have to be concerned. can you reverse this? what are the causes? i think we have to focus the attention on can we compete and can we make the sacrifices. >> are you optimistic we can do this? >> it's just not a pretty deal. it's income distributed. we need to have some leadership to forge the path forward. i don't know how many ceos and cfos say i just need to find out how this works in a welcome i guess the uncertainty leads to something. but what now? neil: there is the president

himself saying that we don't understand at. >> you are right. what we are worried about, and what everyone should be worried about is down the line and the rate of growth of entitlements. we can raise the retirement age over time. whatever this cocktail looks like. that's the problem. >> is the getting to be so dogmatic. look at who the hero is. vice president biden. he knew how to spell the for compromise.

>> there is nothing close. polarization is part of our problem here. >> normally what compels people with this crash, we had nearly 800-point fall off after this and there was a debate about it a lot more after that. will it take a wall street heads >> i'm wondering if it will take arise on an interest rate to we have problems, but they have more problems. you can't live on forever. so we do have to get ourselves together.

>> when you see this house of cards? whatever you want to call it. >> when you see this happening? >> well, looking at the economy, it's growing modestly. our trade picture is reasonable. it's good enough for the stuff that we are worrying about, nobody's worrying about it. we would have to go into a recession again. >> do you see a recession? >> not we make enough of a mess out of march as we almost did in december in washington dc. the natural forces of economic growth and recovery and monetary stimulus, these are all keeping this thing going.

there is some element of that with short-term interest rates and also some good things happening. housing is moving back up. housing is healing. there are some things happening. neil: so there's not too much of a growth enough to stave off catastrophe? >> yes. neil: then what do we do? >> the fed will slap our face. and then the economy does not have enough on its own to really look forward. >> thank you so much. it's really great to talk to you. one of the smartest guys i know on wall street. neil: budget crunch is like reading the menu. reading the menu. we have the actual menu coming

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>> cut to the chase. easier than you think when you could take revenue provided from both parties that hold the standard of spending standards. the cbo. it is not a list the slow the increase of everything west. you slow a little but spend of lot. the cbo has a menu for things like defense. with 1% annually there's a hundred $61 billion saved over 10 years. to 1% for all agencies that is 931 billion over the same 10 years and converting the medicare payments